


If Soulmates Do Exist (I Know That It'd Be You)

by shadowgrl94



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, I hope, M/M, No Angst, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21691891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowgrl94/pseuds/shadowgrl94
Summary: "If soulmates do exist, they're not found, they're made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and then they get to work, building a relationship." Michael says to Chidi on the Netflix show playing on the Avengers communal floor.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 62
Collections: 2019 WinterIron_Holiday_Exchange





	If Soulmates Do Exist (I Know That It'd Be You)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RiotFalling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiotFalling/gifts).



> Hi Riotfalling! I really wanted to make something Fluffy with the pair without having angst. I think I pulled it off (fingers crossed!). 
> 
> This is placed in an Marvel Cinematic Universe that takes place after CA:WS to pick up Bucky and Wilson mostly and stops before AOU. All the Avengers live at the Avengers Tower just like they should have in my opinion.

"If soulmates do exist, they're not found, they're made. People meet, they get a good feeling, and then they get to work, building a relationship." Michael says to Chidi on the Netflix show playing on the Avengers communal floor. At the line, something rings in Tony's head. His stomach fills with butterflies as he turns to glance at Bucky as he sits beside him, engrossed with the screen.

They've been dating for a year and a half now. Back in 2014, Steve and Sam Wilson (who made running commentary that JARVIS found quite amusing as he would run the footage of the man's reactions like a gif) brought his long lost best friend to Avengers Tower back kicking and well not screaming. Still, there was some definite angry Russian and Romanian yelling mixed in there.

Tony was still dating Pepper at the time. He had just gotten out of surgery for the arc reactor and secretly jonesing to make another suit, especially when Romanoff dumped all the files of the Winter Soldier on his lap. Learning about his parents' death at the soldier's hands was devastating, but so were the mountains of data on Hydra's experiments on Bucky that had the Ten Rings torture looking like child's play.

So helping the man recover from his trauma seemed like a better way to work through well whatever Tony was feeling. As he told Pepper before, he's a hot mess. When Quentin Beck came to SI looking for funding for his holographic illusion system, an Idea with a capital I popped in the genius' head and off they went working together.

A year later, Pepper and he called it quits. He couldn't stop being Iron Man. Not with the image he saw in that wormhole still there in the back of his head. Not with the fear of accidentally hurting Pepper in the night with night terrors so realistic, they linger even when he opens his eyes. It turns out that she felt guilty. That when she was tired from a long day of work (which she loved), she couldn't relax, feeling obligated to give more of herself to him — something he never wanted her to do.

When BARF (God, he really needed to change that name) was up and running, Tony spent a lot of time with the Winter Soldier. Sometimes Bucky would come back from his sessions feeling drained and would hide in Tony's Workshop away from prying eyes and questions (*cough* Steve *cough*). After the first couple of times, Tony found himself pausing whatever he was doing to sit on the Workshop'sWorkshop's couch beside him and watch one of the movies on Bucky's "catching up with the future" list.

Eventually, Bucky started coming up to him in whatever room he was in, astounded by the facts he'd find. Like Neil Armstrong landing on the moon.

~*~

"We sent a man to space!"

"We sent many men and women to space. So did Russia and India," he remembers Bucky rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, the KGB considered having me assassinate one of the astronauts, but the higherups wanted to see if they could do it. I assumed it wasn't successful since I was put back in Cryo not long after."

~*~

Or when bananas flabberghasted him.

~*~

"Hey, Tony! What's this?" Bucky asked as he walked into the kitchen, thrusting a banana into his face. Wilson and Steve were behind him at the kitchen table, smirking.

"That's a banana." Steel grey eyes squint at him as if Tony would lie about what a banana looks like. He peeled it before taking a bite. His face screwed up instantly.

"This is NOT a banana. It's bland and mushy and small!"

"JARVIS, are there different types of bananas?"

"Sir, there are six types of bananas commonly known. What Mister Barnes is holding is the Cavendish banana. The most popularly distributed bananas in the United States. What I believe Mr. Barnes is referring to is the Gros Michel's banana, which was popular during the 1940s and died out due to disease and no longer in commercial operations by the 1960s. They are, however, still grown and distributed primarily in southeast Asia."

"Have a crate sent here."

"You don't have to do that, Tony," Bucky whispered, it was still in a time where he felt guilty for well everything related to Tony.

"Sure do. How else will I know if you're right? What if it's not as good as you remember it? Do you know taste buds change? You could hate them now for all you know. We've got to test this."

"Sure...what are 'taste buds'?"

~*~

It was a year more of whispered conversations and movie nights when Tony suddenly realized that he was falling for the man and subsequently freaked out.

~*~

Did he keep this to himself? Should he tell Bucky? Maybe put out some feelers? What if he was disgusted? He's from a time before baby boomers! Aren't they super homophobic? Oh God, what if he told Cap? Cap was Protestant or some shit, wasn't he? He was going to get a beat down, kicked off the Avengers team, ambushed (again) by the press.

So Tony decided the best thing to do was introduce the topic through movies. And the best movie to watch when starting on the new millennia's cinema? "Brokeback Mountain" (which was still as hot and heartbreaking as it was back in 2005). Tony remembers sitting there half watching the movie, half observing Bucky's face from the corner of his eye. The man usually sat loose and spread out on one side of the leather couch, his human arm resting on the back of the sofa, his fingers usually within centimeters of Tony's hairline.

Tony knew when Bucky started to get an idea of where the movie was going when he slowly moved his hand off the back of the couch and across his abdomen, curling his hand into a light fist. His face became more and more blank until the sex scene. If Tony weren't looking so hard for any tells, he wouldn't have noticed the minute widening of his blue/grey eyes, the spasming of his nostrils.

The billionaire winced internally at the small flinch as Bucky reacted to the story of Jack's death.

Bucky hadn't even stayed around to talk about the movie as usual. Once the credits started rolling, he rocketed off the couch and out of the Workshop.

He hadn't seen him in two days before the former assassin popped into the kitchen while Tony was making yet another coffee.

"JARVIS says things are better now for queers. We can be in the military and get married and stuff." Tony raised his eyebrows, setting the cup of coffee down on the counter.

"You're gay?" Bucky shook his head.

"I'm uh. No. I still like girls. At least, I did a lot back in the day. I've just always made sure to look more their way y' know. Didn't wanna end up uh, like Jack. Thought I'd end up more like an Ennis if I was unlucky enough."

"You don't have to be a Jack or an Ennis now. Sure there are still homophobic people, but generally, the public doesn't care." Bucky nodded in response.

"Google says that uh, you're bisexual?" Tony's heart started thumping in his chest.

"Yeah. I like men and women too. Just because I was with Pepper doesn't make me less Bisexual."

"Right. But you're not with Pepper anymore." Bucky grimaced. It wasn't a sore spot for Tony anymore by that time, especially with the new revelation of his crush on Bucky, but obviously, he didn't know that.

"That's true."

"So if you - do you - would you..."

"Are you asking me out? Like, on a date?"

"Only if you want. I-I've liked you for a while now, but I didn't know a lot of stuff, and I didn't want to make things awkward in case I assumed wrong and the whole...killing your parents....thing." Tony and Bucky both winced at the end of his explanation.

"It wasn't you that killed my parents. I mean, it was you, but it wasn't YOU. It was Hydra. I didn't get that at first, but God Bucky getting to know you? Learning about all the shit, those fuckers put you through? I understand, and I don't blame you. None whatsoever. Yes, I'd love to go out with you." Bucky exhaled a deep breath, and a beautiful smile graced his face lighting up Tony's insides.

Bucky planned their first date. After asking if it was okay with Tony to be public, he went all out. Dressed to the nines in a Tom Ford grey suit and blue tie that made his eyes sparkle, he directed him to one of the more fancy steakhouses in Manhattan and holding his hand over the tabletop when they weren't eating. He opened the driver's car door for him and escorted him to his floor only to press a kiss to his cheek and say a husky "good night" before leaving. Tony immediately ruined whatever he was going for by going to Bucky, Steve, and Sam's floor to kiss the living daylights out of him much to Steve and Sam's complaints.

~*~

Now here they are, in the tower penthouse, marathoning the new season of "The Good Place" in their downtime. Bucky is sprawled out in his usual position beside him, his warm flesh hand cupping the back of his neck tenderly. Tony doesn't register the rest of the series, engrossed in his memories of the past year. So it comes as a surprise to him when the television goes black.

"Oh! It's over?" Bucky smiles, bemusedly at him.

"Yeah. When did I lose ya? Did'ya get caught in that big brain of yours?" He takes told of Tony's hand. The billionaire stares at it stupidly before Bucky tugs him up from his seat, guiding him to their bedroom.

"What? No, I was paying attention...for the most part."

"So did it totally surprise you when Michael put Jason and Chidi as soulmates?"

"What?!" Tony gasps only to catch Bucky's 'gotcha' face. "Okay. So maybe I got a little distracted." his boyfriend rewards the confession with a quick smooch to the mouth before heading to the en suite. Tony watches him from the doorway as he goes through his nightly ministrations.

"Micheal didn't pair Jason and Chidi up with time. Wouldn't that have been bizarre and hilarious? Honestly, I wouldn't have minded seeing more Eleanor and Tahani. That's an interesting dynamic. Kinda reminds me of Lang and his girl for some reason-"

"Bucky!" Tony interrupts suddenly. His lover stops instantly, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"I-I love you!" The tenseness that Tony didn't see before poofed out of Bucky at the proclamation. He rolls his eyes at him, smiling as he puts his toothbrush in his mouth.

"I know."

"Did you just Han Solo me?" Tony says outraged. "I'm trying to have a moment here. I-I realized that we'd been together almost two years, and I have never actually said the words to you or presenting lavish gifts to symbolize my feeling for you or I don't know, all of that stuff that's supposed to happen in a romantic relationship. Now that I finally say it, all you can say is 'I know'?" Bucky furrows a dark eyebrow at him, his face scrunching up as he wipes his mouth.

"What are you talking about? You tell me you love me all the time." Tony pivots in a circle, waving his arms in the air around him like that's going to help him jog a memory of whatever Bucky is talking about.

"JARVIS, have I ever said the words 'I love you' to Bucky to his face ever?"

"Combing through the data now, sir... it appears you have said the words 'I love you' once at that was just a moment ago. I cannot find any previous utterances of those particular words."

"Okay, you've never told me explicitly that you love me. That doesn't mean you haven't told me in other ways." He folds his bionic arm around his waist, bringing them chest to chest.

"You say it in your effort to make me comfortable, your insistence that I don't have to be an Avenger if I don't want to, your patience with annoying questions about the future, and every aspect of your life. Every time you buy something 'cause you thought I'd like, when you ask if it's okay to touch me on my bad days, other things I can't think of at the top of my head. Tony, you say it all the time."

"Oh." Tony exhales, astonished. Bucky huffs a laugh.

"Yeah, 'oh.' And love you too. If that wasn't obvious." He gives him another kiss. A deeper one this time. So tender in its caress, it's like he's saying "I love you" again.

When they separate, the words tumble out of Tony's mouth in a whispered breath.

"I love you. I love you. I love you." Tony can't seem to stop himself. He feels like he could combust if he doesn't let it out. Bucky just keeps holding him close, rocking him to some unheard beat, whispering his love back to him.


End file.
